California's computer problems, which have already cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, have mounted as state officials cut short work on a $208-million DMV technology overhaul that is only half done. The project was intended to revamp the process for registering vehicles and issuing driver's licenses, with the entire overhaul scheduled to be finished this year. But state officials said they were canceling the vehicle registration component because little progress was being made. The decision is a setback for the Department of Motor Vehicles, which has a history of such stumbles.

American taxpayers own close to 200,000 vacant houses, and over the next year they will spend more than $40 million just to mow lawns at these properties. Taxpayers also foot the bills to paint walls, fix cabinets, plant flowers and more -- expenses that just last year, exceeded a half a billion dollars.

State education officials have ordered the emergency financial manager for Detroit Public Schools to immediately implement a plan that balances the district's books by closing half its schools. The Detroit News says the financial restructuring plan will increase high school class sizes to 60 students and consolidate operations. Officials say that the plan would wipe out the district's $327 million deficit by 2014.

The personal records of some 3.5 million Texans were inadvertently exposed after they were placed on a state computer server that was accessible to the public for about a year, state officials said on Monday.

he Obama administration proposed new rules Friday that would effectively require passenger cars to be equipped with video cameras and in-vehicle displays to eliminate driver blind spots behind the vehicle.

The rule would be phased in starting in 2012 and would apply to all cars manufactured after Sept. 1, 2004.

Rearview video is the most expensive single technology in vehicles, regulators said, and they estimated that equipping all new cars in a given year could cost between $1.9 billion and $2.7 billion.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said using a cell phone while driving is so dangerous that devices may soon be installed in cars to forcibly stop drivers — and potentially anyone else in the vehicle — from using them... “There’s a lot of technology out there now that can disable phones and we’re looking at that.”
“Am I on a rampage,” said LaHood, who has made distracted driving a top priority of his tenure, “Yes, I am, and why shouldn’t I be?”

A Texas state trooper stops a 1990 Mercedes with an expired registration sticker. The driver says he does not have his driver's license or proof of insurance. After arresting him for "failure to identify," the trooper searches him and his car, finding 14 grams (half an ounce) of marijuana and hashish. Indicted for possession with intent to deliver, he could be sent to prison for the rest of his life.

Vowing to push back against Washington, the state Senate's majority Republicans on Thursday approved two states' rights measures, including a bill that would make it a crime for government officials to enforce federal regulation of economic activity that doesn't go outside the state.

The other bill would have Arizona join other states in a compact to challenge the federal health care overhaul and its mandates on individuals.